User Generated Content – How to Harness the Power of UGC

User Generated Content – How to Harness the Power of UGC

User Generated Content: content (text, images, videos, reviews, podcasts, etc.) created and posted by your fans or customers can work well to help create a steady stream of fresh and unique content for your website or social stream.

User generated content (UGC) statistics from Crowdtap, also show that Millennials consider UGC 20% more influential and 35% more memorable than branded messages.

Millennials are also 50% more likely to find UGC trustworthy, as opposed to branded advertising.

One easy way to obtain user generated content is to just ask for it.

Try organizing a contest that requires a piece of user generated content as a submission for entry.

Submissions could be made via direct entry on your website or Facebook or by using a brand specific hashtag on Twitter or Instagram.

Aggregate the entries into a blog post or newsletter and share on all your social media channels.

There have been some great examples of UGC in the past year. Check out some of our favorite ones below.

Target took those videos and created one of the most heartwarming pieces of marketing we’ve seen in a long time.

2. Burberry – The Art of the Trench

Burberry, a high end clothing and lifestyle brand, helped pave the way for leveraging UGC as a powerful marketing tool with their “Art of the Trench” campaign.

Burberry fans were asked to upload photos of themselves wearing the brand’s signature vintage (yet trendy) piece — the trench coat. Once uploaded, website visitors could comment on and share the photos. Users were also able to browse trenches according to weather, color, style, gender or popularity. Within the first six months, the Art of the Trench site generated 7 million views and is still active today.

3. Coke – This is Ahh Commercial

Coca Cola asked their fans to tell them “what does it feel like when you take a sip of Coke?”